Portugal will automatically grant residence permits to CPLP immigrants

According to a government decree, Portugal will automatically grant immigrants from the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) a residence permit for one year.

The regulation, accessed by the Lusa agency and not yet published in the Diário da República, defines the model of the administrative residence permit issued to foreign nationals in accordance with the mobility agreement between CPLP member states.

The document, signed by Interior Minister José Luis Carneiro, also sets a fee of 15 euros for the digital issuance of a residence permit certificate.

The government justifies the granting of a residence permit to CPLP citizens, which will initially be valid for one year, with the new regime for the entry of immigrants into Portugal, effective from November 2022, which allows CPLP immigrants to have a simplified visa regime in the country.

“Therefore, in order to comply with this provision, it is necessary to approve the sample of the document in question, as well as determine the fees due for the relevant extradition procedure,” the ruling says.

On Saturday, the interior minister already said that immigrants from CPLP countries would receive a “protection status of up to one year” equivalent to the status of citizens who entered the country to avoid the war in Ukraine, in which the request for temporary protection is made through an “online” platform.

José Luis Carneiro also said that this model for citizens of CPLP countries will allow them “to obtain protection status for up to one year, which gives direct access to social security, health and tax numbers.”

This process will resolve the plight of thousands of CPLP immigrants, mostly Brazilians, who expressed an interest in obtaining a residence permit in Portugal between 2021 and 2022.

A source from the Service for Foreigners and Border Guards (SEF) told Lusa that around 150,000 CPLP immigrants, mostly Brazilians, were at stake, filling the Automatic Pre-Scheduling System (SAPA) electronic platform with expressions of interest between 2021 and 2022. (formalized application with SEF for obtaining a residence permit).

However, according to the same source, this number may not be true, as many registrations may be invalid or many immigrants may no longer be in the country.

According to the SEF, in the first step of the process, immigrants will be contacted “online” and after that notification, CPLP citizens will be legalized under this new mobility regime without the need for an in-person visit.

This process comes at a time when the government is preparing the restructuring of the SEF, whose administrative functions regarding immigration will be transferred to the Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA).

As part of the restructuring, which was delayed until the establishment of the APMA, police powers of this body will be transferred to the PSP, GNR and PJ, and the current powers in administrative matters in relation to foreign citizens will now be carried out by the APMA and the Institute of Registries and Notaries.

The decision to restructure the SEF was taken by the previous government and approved by the Assembly of the Republic in November 2021, but has already been postponed twice.

This week, the home secretary assured that the executive branch supports the “political goal” of completing the legislative process to create the APMA by the end of March.

SEF data shows that the foreign population legally residing in Portugal increased in 2022 for the seventh year in a row and stood at 757,252. The Brazilian and Indian communities have grown the most.

Brazilian citizens remain the main foreign community living in the country, with a total of 233,138 people, an increase of 28,444 people (13%) from 2021, according to the SEF.